Originally published at: A Wilde Show in Qatar as the Kiwi Takes the 2025 T100 Championship - Slowtwitch News
It was the Hayden Wilde show at the T100 final in Qatar and the race was everything you’d expect from the Kiwi.
Similar to the women’s race, the first lap of the swim was a long strung out group led by Vincent Luis. By the end of lap two, the big group was whittled down to a pack of eight with Luis leading Morgan Pearson, Sam Dickinson, Menno Koolhaas, Jonas Schomburg, Marten Van Riel, Jelle Geens and Wilhelm Hirsch. Thirty seconds back, Wilde, Mika Noodt and Rico Bogen were part of a strong second pack.
Pearson, making his signature move out of the swim, sprinted into and out of T1 to take the lead. Equally quick out of T1 was Dickinson, with Wilde matching their quick time and having a smooth transition as well, albeit behind.
On the bike course, the men hit the power fast and furious, but none more so than Wilde. Seemingly in no time, Wilde rode himself to the front. Within the first 30 km, a concentrated front group of nine had formed, all within one minute of one another. Gradually over the rest of the bike course the top five — Wilde, Noodt, Van Riel, Bogen and Mathis Margirier — distanced themselves. Bogen actually crashed half way through the bike, sliding out on a corner, but wasted no time in regaining his position.
Meanwhile, Geens was stuck dangling by himself behind the lead pack, but, by the final kilometers of the six lap bike course, he had been caught by the group of Dickinson, Pearson and Schomburg.
No doubt hearing the final bell lap (a new addition to the race since the confusion in the previous T100), Wilde was the first to hit T1 with a five second gap. Next in was Bogen, Noodt, Margirier (who set the fastest bike split of 1:40:55) and Van Riel, all five seconds apart.
Within the first few kilometers, Van Riel ran up to Noodt and Margirier, forming a strong pack of three. They eventually caught up with Bogen and the four began their hunt for the podium.
Far, far up the road, was Wilde who clocked the first 5 km in 16:15, which is an average pace of 3:15m/km. Almost no one could match his pace – except for a charging Pearson. Running 10 seconds faster per kilometer in some places, the American Olympian set the fastest 3 km lap in 8:58, 37 seconds faster than Wilde’s best lap time.
Being back in sixth, little did Pearson’s efforts matter to Wilde, but Pearson’s tempo did matter to the podium chasers. With just over 6 km to go, Pearson caught, passed, and dropped all four of the chase pack. Bogen was the worst to fare, falling right off the back. Credit goes to Margirier, the only one who attempted to chase, but that brave effort eventually cost him his shot at the podium as Noodt and Van Riel closed the small gap and left him behind with 3 km to go.
It was Van Riel, the defending T100 world champion, who made the decisive move with 1.5 km to go for the final spot of the podium. Noodt couldn’t respond and, with that, the podium was wrapped up.
Over a minute ahead, Wilde crossed the line in 3:06:08 to take his first world title and become the T100 world champion. Pearson, 1:15 back and posting the fastest 18 km run with a split of 56:42, took second.
Geens crossed the line in seventh which slipped him to third in the overall standings, meaning Noodt’s fourth moved him up the second.
| Position | Athlete | Country | Swim | Bike | Run | Overall Time | Behind Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayden Wilde | NZD | 24:58 | 01:40:57 | 00:58:09 | 03:06:08 | – |
| 2 | Morgan Pearson | USA | 24:20 | 01:44:05 | 00:56:42 | 03:07:23 | +01:15 |
| 3 | Marten Van Riel | BEL | 24:25 | 01:41:41 | 00:59:53 | 03:08:14 | +02:06 |
| 4 | Mika Noodt | DEU | 24:54 | 01:41:03 | 01:00:17 | 03:08:28 | +02:20 |
| 5 | Mathis Margirier | FRA | 24:58 | 01:40:55 | 01:00:33 | 03:08:50 | +02:42 |
| 6 | Rico Bogen | DEU | 24:51 | 01:40:59 | 01:01:15 | 03:09:19 | +03:11 |
| 7 | Jelle Geens | BEL | 24:25 | 01:43:43 | 01:00:49 | 03:11:06 | +04:59 |
| 8 | Samuel Dickinson | GBR | 24:21 | 01:43:56 | 01:01:41 | 03:12:02 | +05:54 |
| 9 | Jonas Schomburg | DEU | 24:23 | 01:43:53 | 01:02:14 | 03:12:52 | +06:44 |
| 10 | Youri Keulen | NED | 25:38 | 01:45:55 | 00:59:19 | 03:13:02 | +06:54 |